A Flower Before Luna
by reapedgirl district 8
Summary: Neville and Luna both love each other, but will the be able to show their love? This romantic story shows the beginning of their relationship
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Neville lay on the grass, smelling the fresh air. The sun burnt his pale skin like an oven but he didn't mind; it was a nice sensation. He closed his eyes and lay his hands against the prickly grass. He heard a rustling from near by and peeled open his eyelids.

'Hello there, Neville,' smiled Luna down at him.

Her blonde hair blew across her face in the wind but her angel like features stood out against the light blue sky. Neville grinned back at her invitingly and patted the grass next to him. Luna obediently lay down next to him. Neville's heart began to pick up pace, he started to move his hand towards Luna's.

'It's a lovely day, isn't it?' Said Luna.  
Neville quickly pulled his hand away and sat up defensively. He looked towards Luna who was still lying on the ground smiling at the clouds. Her hair lay like golden tinsel and her blue eyes sparkled like sun gleaming on a sea. Neville was transfixed by her beauty and didn't see Professor Flitwick heading towards him with a grumpy look on his face.

'Neville Longbottom! You were supposed to be in my office half an hour ago!' Flitwick yelled.

Neville snapped out of his daze and looked across the lawn to see Flitwick stumbling towards him.

'Oh shit, I completely forgot!' He exclaimed.

He clumsily pushed himself upward and tucked in his tie.

'Professor, it wasn't Neville's fault he wasn't in your office,' Luna sang.

Both Neville and Flitwick looked oddly at Luna's smiling face.

'What do you mean, Luna?' Flitwick asked while pushing his glasses up to his nose.

'I was asking him to help me with my potions homework. He was being very helpful and was so kind that he must have just forgotten. So you see it's my fault, I do apologise.'

Neville's mouth hung open, his eyes wide. Why would Luna take the blame for him? Maybe she felt the same way for him that he did for her...

'Is this true Neville?' Asked Flitwick.

'Yes Professor, I was just helping Luna sir.'

Flitwick looked like he didn't believe them but finally gave in to Luna's convincing smile. He agreed to see Neville the next day instead. When Flitwick had waddled off back to the school Neville let out a loud sigh of relief. Luna had saved Neville from a detention and an angry letter from his Gran. He turned round to face Luna and gave her a huge hug.

'Neville, your cheeks are very red, just like a blood lollipop,' Luna's chiming laugh made Neville's legs wobble.

He didn't want to let Luna go, she smelled of honey and was as warm as a toaster. If he let go he might never feel the warmth again. Obviously he was being silly, Luna would always be his friend but he wanted her to be more than that.

'Hey, Neville, Luna, you're going to be late for class!' Shouted Seamus who was heading into Hogwarts with a bunch of Gryffindor boys.

Luna started to walk in the direction of the Gryffindors so Neville followed her staring at her glorious body made for a goddess. How he wished that she could be his, he could always hold her, feel her warmth and have the pleasure of feeling her soft, pink lips against his.

Luna turned around snapping Neville out of his dreamland.

'This is my class. I'll see you later Neville,' Luna said.

Neville waved good bye as she departed into the classroom.

Neville couldn't stop thinking about Luna. As he walked to potions all he could picture was her angelic face.'Longbottom, you're late for my class again,' snarled Snape.

Neville was really only two minutes late but Snape hates him because he was so useless at Potions. He couldn't do any of them right unless he had help from his friend Hermione. She was one of the smartest in his year and was always very nice to him.

'But Professor, I'm only a minute late,' Neville explained.

'A minute is still late Longbottom now get into the classroom and be quiet, or else!,' Snape glared.

Snape terrified Neville but that wasn't unusual, he terrified almost everyone. Neville had really only ever seen Harry Potter stand up to Snape. Harry was the only person Snape detested more than Neville. Neville wasn't sure why thought, Harry wasn't too bad at Potions and didn't act up in class. He was actually a credit to the Wizarding community.

Neville took a seat at the front of the class and got his book out silently.

Snape droned on about some sort of potion that would turn you blue but Neville didn't listen. He was too busy trying to figure out a way of telling Luna how he felt about her. He tapped his quill against the creaking table in thought. What if Luna didn't feel the same way about him? What if she laughed in his face? What if...?

'Neville Longbottom, maybe you'd like to read out your answer to the question?' Snape asked with disdain.

'Sorry Sir?' Neville wimpered.

'The question I just told the class to write their answer down. Please share to the class your thoughts.'

The class stared at him sadly. They all knew that Neville did not have an answer. Neville didn't even know the question.

'Umm, what was the question?' Neville asked shyly.

'You turn up to my class late, you are rude to me and you don't listen to what I say, Mr Longbottom. You've just earned yourself detention tomorrow at 2pm in my office,' Snape growled.

'But Sir, that's during the quidditch match!' Neville protested.

Snape gave him a glare that meant shut up and sit down now or you'll regret it.

Neville sank into his seat. It just wasn't fair. He was going to watch the quidditch with Luna the next day, Ravenclaw vs Gryffindor. Luna would have been cheering with him, hugging him, he might have even told her how he felt.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

'Come in,' Snape's voice bellowed from inside the classroom.

Neville slowly opened the creaking door too a dull room where Snape sat behind a wooden desk, his black, greasy hair hung limply on his shoulders.

'I'm here for my detention,' Neville wimpered.

'Ah yes, Longbottom. You better sit down.'

Neville obediently sat down at a little, wooden table where a piece of lined paper and a black quill were already placed. At the top of the page it said in Snape's neat, swirly writing 'I will not turn up to class late, disrespect the teacher or daydream (1000x)'

Snape looked at Neville, smirked and then returned to his work. Neville gave out a loud sigh and began.

999 lines later Neville was walking back from Snape's office to the common room.

'Hi there, Neville,' came a voice from behind.

Neville swung around in the middle of the staircase too see Luna standing behind him wearing a stuffed eagle on one shoulder and a toy lion on the other.

'Oh hi Luna. How was the quidditch match?' Neville asked politely.

'Gryffindor won. Harry caught the snitch quite quickly.'

Neville nodded along. Luna began to walk up the stairs so Neville walked by her side. He couldn't stop staring at her. She was just so gobsmackingly beautiful, Neville had never felt this way about anyone before.

Suddenly Neville felt a surge of pain go through his leg as he hit something hard. Before he could regain his balance, he was falling towards the floor at high speed. With a loud crash, he smacked against the stair. He could feel himself slipping into darkness. Hands grabbed at him. He was pulled upwards. He could feel his feet moving weakly but he couldn't walk for long. Someone kept him up. Someone pushed him through the door, into the common room and lay him down. Neville was seeing blurry images. He was hearing a loud buzzing. Then everything was black.

'Neville?' Came a soft voice from beside him.

He slowly peeled his eyes open too a bright light glowing down at him. He looked to his left and saw the familiar, beautiful face of Luna.

'What happened?' Neville groaned.

He began to push himself up but a sharp pain stabbed his forehead which forced him too lie back down.

'You fell and hit your head on a step. There was a lot of blood,' Luna chirped.

It was as if she could make any situation sound calm and harmless.

'Were you the one to help me into the common room?' Neville asked.

'Oh no. I couldn't lift you. Luckily a few Hufflepuff boys were heading to the library and saw you. They all helped you into the common room while I went to fetch the nurse.'

Neville smiled at her. It was all he could manage, he felt so weak. Even lifting a finger was tiring so when he moved his hand towards his head to check the damage he couldn't reach it. His arm flopped back to rest on the bed.

'How long was I out?' He asked.

'About three hours,' replied Luna.

'Did I miss much?'

Luna laughed. It was a bit of a silly question but he liked to make her laugh. The door opened from the other side of the room and the nurse walked in flicking through sheets of paper on a clipboard.

'Oh, you're awake Mr Longbottom,' the nurse said.

She walked over and began to shoo Luna to the door. Luna stood up smiled at Neville and walked out of the room.

'When will I be ready to leave?' Neville asked.

'Well I'll have to run some check-ups on you but I don't think its anything serious,' the nurse smiled.

She turned around to a tray laying beside Neville's bed and started fishing pointy objects out. Neville quivered beneath his blankets but not because he was cold. Unfortunately Neville had a huge fear of needles even though he was 16. He couldn't stand the look of their sharp, silver ends and the thought of them being stabbed through his skin. He shivered. Luckily the nurse picked up a thermometer and shoved it down his throat.

'Your temperature is normal and you don't seem to be in too much pain. Whenever your ready you can leave,' the nurse smiled.

Neville lay on the bed for a little while before he decided to leave and search for Luna. It was dark outside when Neville walked through the corridors towards the Ravenclaw common room. When he got to the door he realised he didn't no the ravenclaw password. He knocked on the eagle shaped door knocker. Suddenly it began to move and its stony eyes met with Neville's. He jumped backward in shock and suprise.

'If a pied piper began to play, what would follow?' The eagle asked gruffly.

Neville was speechless. Luna had never said anything about a riddling door knocker outside her common room. He cleared his throat and began to think through the question. When it said play did it mean his pipe or just playing games?

'Umm... Is it...' Neville began.

Right before Neville was about to give up and leave the common room door opened and out walked a little Ravenclaw first year.

'Hi there. Is Luna Lovegood in the common room?' Asked Neville smiling.

The little first year boy looked slightly shy with his blonde her covering his face but he gave Neville an abrupt nod and went back inside leaving Neville standing outside. After a minute Luna walked out with her spectraspecs in her hand.

'Hi there, Neville. I hope your better,' She chirped.

Neville could smell her minty breath wave over him. He closed his eyes and breathed it in. He wanted to taste the mint.

'Should we go to the library?' Luna asked sweetly.

'Yes, that's a great idea.'

The two of them set off towards the library. Neville noticed that many of the paintings had gathered at the last supper. It would probably be a gossip meeting, he though. They carried on silently, neither daring to speak first.

They reached the book filled room which smelt a lot like old people (well the librarian was seriously old) and sat in a corner where nobody else was.

'Did you ever go to Professor Flitwick?' Luna asked starting the conversation.

'Well I had my detention with Snape so he moved it to Monday.'

Both of them didn't say anything for a while. The tension was unbearable, Neville just couldn't stand not telling her his love. Maybe he should just kiss her, it would break the tension and if he liked her back then they could have a passionate relationship together. But what if she didn't feel the same way? What if she was revolted by him or she went and told all her friends and they all laughed at him? He couldn't put himself through the humiliation of it.

After an unbelievably long time Luna stood up.

'Come on. I want to show you something,' she said.


End file.
